Yuzvendra Chahal And Kuldeep Yadav Should Play In Tandem In The ODI Series Vs Sri Lanka: VVS Laxman

Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman has opined that the leg-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal should play in tandem in the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Team India will lock horns with Sri Lanka in 3 ODIs and as many T20Is later this month.

The tour will start with the ODI series in Colombo from July 13 and the rubber along with the subsequent T20I rubber will be extremely crucial for both Chahal and Kuldeep.

Once hailed as the lynchpins of the Indian bowling attack in limited-overs cricket, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have seen their stocks decline massively in the past 18-24 months.

As none of them has any batting prowess, the Indian management has been reluctant to play both of them in the same playing 11 with Ravindra Jadeja taking one of the slots.

During a discussion on Star Sports, VVS Laxman reckoned that the more the spin duo bowls, the better it will be for them.

‘’I definitely would like to see them play in the three ODIs. There are six spinners. In ODIs, each bowler will get to bowl ten overs. The more overs they bowl, the more success they have, they will get back their confidence, especially Kuldeep.” said Laxman.

‘’We know Chahal is a very successful and experienced bowler. He is high in confidence and a very important member keeping in mind the T20 World Cup. But Kuldeep requires to get his confidence back,’’ he added.

While Yuzvendra Chahal has still featured regularly in the playing 11, Kuldeep Yadav hasn’t got the same number of opportunities.

Yadav has endured a sharp decline in his form and confidence and the fact that he doesn’t gets many opportunities to play for his IPL franchise KKR hasn’t helped his cause either.

Former seam-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan has backed Kuldeep Yadav, stating that the chinaman is a wicket-taker and he will only regain his confidence by playing matches.

‘’The only way he can get confidence is by playing matches, by bowling more and more overs. He has been a very very successful bowler in a short span of time for Indian cricket. He is one of the quickest to take 100 wickets and he is a wicket-taker.” said Irfan Pathan.

Irfan Pathan further added that Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav’s chances of playing in tandem will increase if Hardik Pandya starts bowling.

”I am looking forward to seeing not only Kuldeep and Chahal bowling together but I am hoping that Hardik Pandya starts bowling. If he starts bowling, it makes it easier to play both of them,” he added.

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